Water quality and high level of Mg and Kh

[Mohammad.ki]

Hello , pleas can you share your experience with me regarding the aquarium water quality:

first my tank water quality was bad i ask about it ,so they tell me to keep changing water and to test the Mg,Kh,Ca for now and later the phosphate and Nitrate ,so i buy everything from Aquaforest brand i test i get the following:

Mg = 1500 @ 0.00
Kh = 14 @ 0.00
Ca = 400 @ 0.20
salinity = 1.024 note: before it was 1.020 ≈1.021 ,so i did water change like 30% and then i add new filtered water and now the salinity between 1.024 ≈1.025
Form now i will keep evey week change wate 20% because before every one month i do change only

As result my water have high amounts of Mg and Kh please can you advise me what to do other than this plan and How i can decreas Kh and Mg

 

[blaxsun]

What kind of salt are you using? A 10% water change every 2 weeks is usually more than sufficient. What kind of tank/filtration setup do you have?

 

[Mohammad.ki]

What kind of salt are you using? A 10% water change every 2 weeks is usually more than sufficient. What kind of tank/filtration setup do you have?

All the time i use aquaforest reef salt brand and my tank includes :
- Royal Exclusiv - Bubble King - Double Cone 200
- Ecotech Marine Radion G5 XR30 Pro 2 pices
- Ecotech Marine M2 Pump
Tank size 160/57/55(h)

all what i am doing preparing my tank to put soft coral or eassy to care corals but first i need to cheek the water quality,so any advice how to lower the magnesium and Kh in the water the calcum is good = 400

till now eveytime i bring soft coral the stay for 1-2 months and diy due to water quality high mg and kh i guess if my water levels become good verything will be fine

 

[blaxsun]

If you haven't double-checked your test results with a different kit, I would probably try that first as it's a relatively inexpensive option before switching salt, etc.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

AF test their batches. Go to their site it should tell u the values. Mix to 1.026 and test. If I deviate that much from their results possible test kit issue or user error. I’m about to use this salt for tomw water change

 

[Mohammad.ki]

For me i am telling you my water was bad now i get the problem i don't know at first this test and what should i do to keep my water quality good ,so i did test using AF brand which is good quality made in poland my question is i get this resul ,so how i can decreas the Mg and Kh in my tank in good way and how i can keep the water persentage stable for example time of water change do i have to do something else or add something in my sump this my question pleas share your experience with me

 

[anthonygf]

Hello Mohammad. Your magnesium is okay, I run mine 1480-1520 for a couple years now to keep algae down.
EDIT: Disregard my comment on dkh and salinity.

 

[TokenReefer]

As for your Kh, use less salt more water when mixing

Wouldn't this lower the salinity?

Something is attributing to your elevated alk or your test kit is off, imo. Are you adding anything? Do you use (unbuffered) RODI water? If not there could be alk coming in that way (if your tests are accurate). Fwiw your salinity will affect the test results so make sure that is correct first

 

[anthonygf]

I am sorry Mohammad. I get a little confused on the dkh-alkalinity and salinity. But still what do you mix your salt at? Sometimes I test the salinity, alkalinity, magnesium and calcium on fresh mixed salt when I open a new bucket and again half way down to get an idea how the salt is mixed in the bucket. Sometimes the components in salt settles out and you should mix the salt in the bag or bucket before opening. Just a few things I have learned here.

 

[anthonygf]

Wouldn't this lower the salinity?

Something is attributing to your elevated alk or your test kit is off, imo. Are you adding anything? Do you use (unbuffered) RODI water? If not there could be alk coming in that way (if your tests are accurate). Fwiw your salinity will affect the test results so make sure that is correct first

Yes you are right. I get those confused sometimes. I just remembered his salinity was low to begin with.

 

[TokenReefer]

It looks like AquaForest has the following DKH at respective salinity:

So new fresh saltwater should not be raising the alk (from my understanding). There can be buffers in tap water that can attribute this high alk tho I believe...

Op, I would mix a batch of fresh saltwater and test that, see if your dkh is coming back in reference to what AquaForest shows. I'd start there... If it's good then changing water can lower it also time I believe. I would not panic tho if nothing is dying. Is anything?

 

[TokenReefer]

Also, what's your PH? That could be a concern if too high...

 

[Mohammad.ki]

Hello , thanks for help first

for me my PH level i test it now 0.30 no idea if it's high or low

regarding your message i should increas my water to 1.026 salinity and best solution to lower the Mg and Kh changing the water every week over the time it will the level will decreas for both Mg and Kh right ???

 

[TokenReefer]

I wouldn't worry about the Mg for now. I gotta suggest testing again or with another kit/at a LFS. The 14 KH just doesn't make sense to me if you are not adding anything and starting with RODI...

If you mix your AF salt with RODI water at the salinity to 35 ppt (1.026) according to AF you should have sw with approx 7.7-8.3 dkh. Accounting for testing error it shouldn't be too far from this mark. This is your starting point. In order for alk to be as high as yours something else must be added to it (or the test is wrong) from my understanding. Hopefully you can go from there

make sure you are following the test kit instructions perfectly, sometimes a small misstep can make a difference

 

[anthonygf]

Hello , thanks for help first

for me my PH level i test it now 0.30 no idea if it's high or low

regarding your message i should increas my water to 1.026 salinity and best solution to lower the Mg and Kh changing the water every week over the time it will the level will decreas for both Mg and Kh right ???

I don't understand your ph? Should be any where between 7.8 and 8.4.

 

[Mohammad.ki]

I don't understand your ph? Should be any where between 7.8 and 8.4.

Uhh sorry i test the phosphate level insted of PH I thought ph mean phosphate for ph "protine hydrate " i do not have the kit to test

 

[anthonygf]

Uhh sorry i test the phosphate level insted of PH I thought ph mean phosphate for ph "protine hydrate " i do not have the kit to test

You should test ph.

 

[TokenReefer]

Test PH if you can but definitely retest ALK; I gotta think that at 14 dkh you'd be experiencing some Ca precipitation if that is accurate (or your PH is really low?). Are you?

 

[BigMonkeyBrain]

For me i am telling you my water was bad now i get the problem i don't know at first this test and what should i do to keep my water quality good ,so i did test using AF brand which is good quality made in poland my question is i get this resul ,so how i can decreas the Mg and Kh in my tank in good way and how i can keep the water persentage stable for example time of water change do i have to do something else or add something in my sump this my question pleas share your experience with me

May need a chemist here ! Nice salt mix, would save me a pound or two of dry magnesium powder. If your tank is fish only I would adjust the salinity lower - 1.023 - 1.024 other water parameters would be lower. Alk is high, may be the test kit ? other confounding variables ?

Probably happens !